


What about them?

by Crab_Lad



Series: Crab's need for clone wars content [29]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Order 66, idk open ending?, small ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24447349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crab_Lad/pseuds/Crab_Lad
Summary: A dumb little idea for order 66 with the bad batch
Series: Crab's need for clone wars content [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662106
Comments: 5
Kudos: 82





	What about them?

**Author's Note:**

> idk what this is i hope its any good

There’s something in the air. Something he can’t quite place. It’s oh so similar to those frequencies Hunter had felt on Anaxes. But this. This is something different. Something… else. It’s a sort of tension that won’t go away. Whatever it is, hanging off in the distance, he knows it’ll shatter the galaxy, reshape the status quo. It’s large, and looming, yet vague and… unsure. 

But it keeps him agitated throughout the whole day. He almost feels bad when he snaps at Tech, or when Echo gets a little too excited over something and Hunter shuts it down. He doesn’t mean to be the big bad one. He just wants them safe, and the feelings he has promises something else. The last thing he wants is for his squad, his family, to get hurt. 

It's worse when the feeling only grows the closer he gets to Echo. Echo, their little brother, who just joined the squad over three months ago, but they all still care for. The Bad Batch don’t love easily, but when they do, it’s fierce. Hunter was ready to go against Dooku himself to protect whatever fate was approaching for Echo. Just so he could stop it, just so he could keep his brother. 

The others didn’t seem to pick up on the same thing he was, they carried on as normal, only shooting him concerned looks at his odd behavior. Hunter didn’t blame them, if one of them was acting the way he is, then… well he’d probably end up pulling them aside for a ‘chat’. 

It doesn’t matter, they’re needed on Kashyyyk. That’s where his mind should be, on the mission. The mission he can’t even remember anymore, and honestly thank Echo for always remembering. So he lets Echo lead, he isn’t much a leader anyway. He is just the most experienced, the most enhanced. Echo is a natural born leader, despite his name. 

The feeling builds, and builds and builds and builds until he feels like he’s going to fall over from it. It’s all consuming, filling every fiber of his body, making his movements jerky, disjointed.

Then-

Then Echo freezes. There’s a comm coming in, but Hunter can’t be bothered to open it. Echo is in  _ danger _ . He can feel it in the air around him, can feel something dark and oppressive threaten to swallow his brother up. 

“Uh.. Sarge?” Tech pipes up, but Hunter ignores him, pushing past the others to get to Echo. 

“Sargent,” Echo greets, saluting. “We have new orders.”

He hates the way Echo’s voice is robotic, much like his legs and arms. Hates that another piece of his humanity is stripped. Hates that he sounds like one of the loyal Regs, brainwashed out of any personality. He doesn’t care about new orders. All he wants is to know what’s wrong. 

“Sir, we are to execute and dispose of any Jedi we meet.”

That-

Hunter doesn’t have a high opinion of the Jedi. Not like his friend Cody, who was head over heels for his. It doesn’t make sense to him, he can’t stand their hypocrisy, the careless way they handle Regs. Selfishly, he’s glad that he was never put under a Jedi. Hunter wouldn’t have lasted under one. None of them would have. 

But Echo had, and Echo had loved his Jedi. How many times had he referred to Skywalker as “ _ ner'jetti _ ”? How many times had Echo gone on and on about why Skywalker was a good general? Echo had loved Anakin, maybe not like Cody loved Kenobi, but still. Echo would never think that of a Jedi. Not even the worst of them. 

“Wrecker, I need you to get down to the front and tell me what’s happening. Crosshair, keep a lookout, Tech, I need your help with him,” Hunter barks, slowly trying to maneuver Echo around. 

He doesn’t want to tip the trooper off that he is detaining him. But the overwhelming, horrible feeling crashes into him, causing him to stumble. Tech is there in a second, Crosshair drifting off while Wrecker slides down the slope towards the beach. Together, Tech and Hunter get Echo into a clearing, his arms behind his back. The worst part is the trooper doesn’t even fight it, no, he’s acting like this is all part of some plan. 

“Sarge,” Tech whispers, “we got orders to execute the Jedi down below.” 

“We can’t,” Hunter manages to get out, trying hard to block out that wave of feelings and emotions. So many voices were crying in pain, echoing across the galaxy. Each one being snuffed out, going dark like a star that had reached its end. The light that had been in the galaxy, however dim it may have been, vanishes, slowly. 

In its wake, follows a devouring darkness. The kind of darkness that soaks in the light, like a black hole, leaving nothing left. It is greedy, desperate to consume and take control of everything. Hunter isn’t sure what it means, isn’t sure he wants to know. 

Tech looks at him, and he nods, pressing down on that one pressure point that will render Echo unconscious. Just in time too, as Wrecker comes sprinting back, an uncharacteristic look of fear on his face. 

“They’ve killed the Jedi. And they’re hunting the Wookies.” 

“They?”

“The Regs.” 

That.

Well.

Hunter sucks in a breath, tries hard not to let everything get to him. But it is, it’s starting to be too much. He can still hear the hum of the engines, can hear distant blaster fire. All the electromagnetic waves are crashing into him, leaving him with a constant ringing in his ears. The darkness threatens to suck him in too, but he can’t let it.

“Let’s get back to the ship. We’ll figure out what to do from there.” 

The other two nod, standing. Wrecker carefully picks Echo up, holding him with the care Wrecker only has for Bad Batchers. They will figure this out, then they will figure out where to go from there. Whether they stay with the Republic or not, whatever has happened to the Galaxy, they will face together.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr is crablad


End file.
